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Fueled by Anger at Trump and Corporate Greed, Economic Blackout Underway
"We have the power," said one supporter of the boycott. "We don't have to accept corporate monopolies. We don't have to live with corporate money corrupting our politics."
Feb 28, 2025
After hundreds of thousands of social media users in recent days shared posts calling for an economic blackout at major retail corporations on February 28, the boycott was underway Friday, with proponents saying the aim was to deliver a message about widespread anger over corporate greed "to corporate America directly."
"We have the power. We don't have to accept corporate monopolies. We don't have to live with corporate money corrupting our politics," said former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. "We don't have to accept more tax cuts for billionaires. We don't have to pay more of our hard-earned cash to Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg or the other billionaire oligarchs."
The idea of the blackout originated with a self-described "mindfulness and meditation facilitator," John Schwartz, who urged consumers to join the push for "systemic change," emphasizing that the boycott was not targeting President Donald Trump, his billionaire adviser and benefactor Elon Musk, or a political party, as both Democratic and Republican leaders "have manipulated the economy and profited off the working class."
But Schwartz noted on his website for The People's Union USA, "a grassroots movement dedicated to economic resistance, government accountability, and corporate reform," that the group stands "firmly for equality and freedom for ALL people, regardless of race, gender, background, or identity. The idea that companies and institutions should abandon diversity and inclusivity is regressive and unacceptable."
The statement was an apparent reference to Trump's executive order threatening to open investigations into companies that do not dismantle initiatives aimed at promoting "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI). The order—and the decision by some companies including Target, Walmart, Amazon to roll back DEI programs—has been named by some participants in Friday's economic blackout as a reason to withhold their spending from the corporations.
"We don't have to reward corporations that have abandoned their DEI policies to align themselves with Trump's racist, homophobic, misogynistic agenda," said Reich. "We have choices."
"It is promising that people are responding to the current moment by showing their distrust of these corporations."
Schwartz's posts about the blackout on social media went viral in recent weeks, with 700,000 people sharing his Instagram post and the content generating 8.5 million total views.
The boycott has gained the attention of celebrities with wide followings including actor Mark Ruffalo and author Stephen King.
While one marketing expert, Anna Tuchman of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, toldThe Associated Press that the boycott was unlikely to lead to "long-run sustained decreases in economic activity" that would impact the financial bottom line of Amazon, Target, Walmart, and other affected companies, she noted that the blackout could make an impact on daily sales.
"I think this is an opportunity for consumers to show that they have a voice on a single day," said Tuchman.
Based on information from a data company called Placer.ai, the one-day blackout is likely not the only action many shoppers have been taking.
During the week of February 10, according to the company, which uses phone location date to track visits to stores, foot traffic dropped at Target stores by 7.9% and at Walmart by 4.8%, while it increased by 4.8% at Costco locations; Costco has defended its DEI policies under the Trump administration.
Joseph Feldman of financial research firm Telsey Advisory Group told clients that recent data "shows a clear drop in traffic in late January into mid-February following [one] company's step back from DEI."
According to Schwartz's website, more economic blackouts—both wide-scale and those targeting specific corporations—are being planned for the coming weeks.
The People's Union USA called for an Amazon blackout, including Whole Foods, during the week of March 7; a boycott of Nestlé to protest water exploitation and child labor during the week of March 21; and 24-hour economic blackouts on March 28 and April 18.
In a separate push, labor unions led by the United Auto Workers have already begun preparing for a general strike on May 1, 2028—International Solidarity Day.
Friday's blackout comes on the heels of news that consumer confidence plummeted in February, likely leading some corporations to already have felt the impact of fewer shoppers. Analysts linked the drop in consumer spending to anxiety stemming from Trump's mass firing of federal workers and his threatened tariffs on imports from the European Union, Canada, and Mexico.
The video posted by Schwartz on Instagram recently rallied consumers by telling them that "corporations profit off of our labor while keeping wages low, banks steal billions through inflation and predatory policies, politicians accept bribes disguised as donations while ignoring the people."
"They have taken everything from us while convincing us we should be grateful of the scraps," said Schwartz. "And that ends now."
With enthusiasm and media coverage of the blackout spreading in recent days, Aaron Vansintjan, co-author of The Future Is Degrowth: A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism, toldThe Intercept that "people are getting a sense that they're ripped off, that they're being taken advantage of and exploited as consumers."
"It is promising that people are responding to the current moment by showing their distrust of these corporations," said Vansintjan, whose book calls for reducing consumption and production of fossil fuels, factory-farmed meat products, and other goods that harm the planet.
Vansintjan noted that consumers have power that is more limited than that of unionized workers and tenants, who can organize for fair wages, working conditions, and rent prices.
"It's hard to have an impact where you shop, because most of us don't actually have much of a choice in that," Vansintjan said.
Schwartz toldThe Washington Post: "We are the economy. We are the workforce."
Corporate retailers, he said, "benefit only because we get up every day and do what we do. If we stop, they have nothing, and it's time for them to accept that truth."
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Boycott Major Retailers to Show Them We Have the Power
If politicians won’t hear the voices of average Americans who are being shafted by corporate America, we have to deliver our message to corporate America directly.
Feb 28, 2025
A grassroots movement is calling on all Americans to abstain from shopping with major retailers—including Amazon—today, February 28, as part of an “economic blackout.”
The purpose is to send a clear message: We have the power. We don’t have to accept corporate monopolies. We don’t have to live with corporate money corrupting our politics.
We don’t have to accept more tax cuts for billionaires. We don’t have to pay more of our hard-earned cash to Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg or the other billionaire oligarchs.
Consider this a test run. If lots of people participate, I’m sure a longer one will be organized.
We don’t have to reward corporations that have abandoned their DEI policies to align themselves with President Donald Trump’s racist, homophobic, misogynistic agenda.
We have choices.
Most Americans are struggling to keep up. Most live from paycheck to paycheck. Most can barely afford housing costs, food prices, and pharmaceuticals—kept high by monopolies, and fueled by private equity.
If politicians won’t hear the voices of average Americans who are being shafted by corporate America, we have to deliver our message to corporate America directly.
From midnight February 28 to midnight March 1, please: No Amazon, no Walmart, no Best Buy, no Target, no Disney, no Google, no Facebook. Don’t spend on fast food, major retailers, or gas.
Avoid using credit or debit cards to make nonessential purchases.
Buy essentials such as medicine, food, and emergency supplies, of course, but make those purchases at small, local businesses.
Consider this a test run. If lots of people participate, I’m sure a longer one will be organized.
(Today’s economic blackout is an initiative of The People’s Union USA, which describes itself as a “grassroots movement dedicated to economic resistance, government accountability, and corporate reform.”)
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Keep the Rainbow Flag Flying
LGBTQ people are under attack and deserve support this Pride Month and all year long.
Jun 05, 2023
I wasn’t aware until recently that Target had an LGBTQ-themed section to commemorate Pride Month, which began on June 1. Why shouldn’t it? We have months that celebrate Black history, Hispanic heritage, Arab heritage, Jewish American Heritage, Women’s history. We celebrate cultures that were not always respected or given their due, and in many cases still aren’t.
The rainbow flag seems to wave in one variation or another wherever people equally take pride in celebrating people who alone, paradoxically, are the target of sweeping naked discriminatory legislation across the country.
Post-racial fantasies aside, there’s still plenty of discrimination against minorities—if anything, it’s on a sharp rise, with Blacks, Asians and Jews at the top of the target list—but it often requires a whole set of coded signs and the scabby language of dog whistles, at least in the workplace, in schools, in public places. Except, of course, when the target is LGBTQ people. It’s open season on them everywhere, starting with schools.
The rainbow flag flew at Harvey Milk’s funeral, and has been flying since, though these days it seems to take an Iwo Jima or two to keep it afloat.
As of this writing, nearly 500 bills have been introduced or passed this year alone, 10 of them in Florida, replacing LGBTQ identity with the equivalent of a yellow star, the emblem Nazis forced Jews to wear to distinguish them from everyone else in a warm-up to the Holocaust. Last year it was 180 bills.
This is what we’re doing to a group of people that should be the poster child for civil liberties and human rights.
LGBTQ culture—as opposite to cancel culture as it gets—is boundlessly diverse. The acronym seems to add a letter every year. In Canada the acronym is at risk of breaking anti-sprawl ordinances. It now refers to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Pansexual, Two-Spirited (2S), and Asexual. If you wonder what two-spirited means, just remember Little Horse, the “boy who didn’t want to fight the pawnee” in Little Big Man, back when the United States could muster a little tolerance from mayhem.
The acronym reflects the immense variations implied by the freedom of sexual orientation, assuming that part of the Pledge applies. I hesitate to call it a community. There are no such monoliths, least of all in LGBTQ world. It is just as diverse ethnically, racially, and religiously. In a sense, you cannot possibly get more diverse than under the big LGBTQ tent. That’s the symbolism behind the pride flag.
Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected officials in California, had asked artist Gilbert Baker to design a flag to represent all that wonderful synonym for American freedom. He came up with the rainbow flag, its stripes a more colorful echo of the stars and stripes, a more achieved version of the United States. It was first flown at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 1978.
Five months later Dan White walked into Harvey Milk’s office and assassinated him right after assassinating Mayor George Moscone. At his trial White’s lawyer described him as “deeply endowed… in the traditional American values.” Witnesses described him as a paragon of virtue, press reports referred to him as an “all-American boy,” and his defense claimed he was hopped up on junk food so couldn’t be blamed for gunning down a mayor and a queer. The whitewashing worked. Instead of getting convicted of first degree murder, he got manslaughter and served just five years. When he killed himself in 1985, his lawyer, Douglas Schmidt, still called him the “third victim.” And we wonder why Alex Jones has a following.
The rainbow flag flew at Milk’s funeral, and has been flying since, though these days it seems to take an Iwo Jima or two to keep it afloat. If you think I’m exaggerating, consider that between violence against LGBTQ people and the suicide rate in that group, especially among youths, the 7,000 dead of Iwo Jima may be more of an understated parallel than you realize. And these Americans aren’t dying on an atoll. They’re your neighbors. You see through them in church. You degrade them in such easy little taps as you feed your social mierda bile between a thought and a prayer for safer sympathies from your phone.
Getting back to Target: I stopped in to buy myself a rainbow-themed pair of socks. Instead I found the LGBTQ display relegated to a dimly lit back alley in the store, the way old video stores used to dissimulate their porn collection. This was the result of anti-LGBTQ bigots confronting Target employees and vandalizing displays that had been more prominently placed.
You can’t really blame Target for protecting its employees, but it’s not as if the company can’t afford security. It has a full-on guard at its Palm Coast store, as I imagine it has many more in more rancid settings. They’re not there to help the little old visitor from Dubuque carry her parsley sprigs to her car. They’re there to ensure that customers live and let live. Instead, the guard is just another Target mannequin.
The company is patting itself on the back for not banning the displays. But this Pride Month, there’s not much to be proud of in people who to this day would rather burn than raise the Pride Flag. It’s about time it replaced all those MIA flags in school yards and at courthouses. LGBTQ victims, unlike the mythical missing, are real, and they’re piling up.
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